Articles

Banque du Caire has embarked on a five-year transformation strategy that includes regional expansion, strengthening its digital platform and boosting SME financing and financial inclusion. This interview with the CEO Tarek Fayed, shares how the bank is expanding its SME loan and microfinance portfolios.

Articles

Jay Singer is Senior Vice President, Global Small Business Segment at Mastercard. In this role, he leads the global development and commercialization of the Mastercard innovative commercial products and solutions that serve small businesses. In an article, Singer speaks of how poor cash flow management is one of the top reasons small businesses...

In a bid to accelerate women’s financial inclusion in MENA, the region with the lowest female economic participation in the world , the DFID-funded Arab Women’s Enterprise Fund ( AWEF ) led a study to understand the scope for Digital Financial Services (DFS) in Egypt, map key constraints to women’s financial inclusion and identify opportunities to...

McKinsey reached out to the CEOs of three innovative fintechs—Ping Identity, Plaid, and Tink—for their perspectives on global prospects for open banking. While these firms address varying perceived pain points in financial services and pursue different business models, common themes emerged across the three interviews. The implications for banks...

Nordic Banks are shifting their focus toward more technology implementation to gain a competitive advantage against non-traditional fintech competitors. According to the article, several Nordic banks have plans to move their branch services completely online. “Like many banks, we must face the reality of change,” said Timo Ritakallio, OP Financial...

The UN Secretary General’s High-level Meeting on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development discussed focus of investments, measuring data for SDGs and vulnerable countries and sectors. According to the article, the meeting focused on: Aligning global financial and economic policies with the 2030 Agenda Enhancing sustainable financing...

About IFC DigiLab IFC DigiLab is Digital Transformation on Steroids and is our latest tool to support our clients in their digital transformation at scale. It is a program designed for small and mid sized financial institutions IFC DigiLab consists of a combination of face to face learning and networking events coupled with an online learning...

Industry Partner GBA for Women says that digital solutions for product distribution are rapidly increasing banks’ ability to reach the unbanked – a segment disproportionately made up of women. During the recent All-Stars Academy in South Africa, GBA heard from two of its members who are making huge strides in this area: Diamond Bank of Nigeria -...

Jim Marous is co-publisher of The Financial Brand and publisher of the Digital Banking Report , a subscription-based publication that provides deep insights into the digitization of banking, with over 150 reports in the digital archive available to subscribers. As a small business owner, Jim Marous shares why PayPal became his primary financial...

On May 15-16, in the heart of Nairobi, Kenya, 300 plus individuals from more than 175 institutions and 50 countries gathered at the Africa SME Finance Forum to discuss innovative solutions to promote access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa. As a key supporter of the Forum, the Mastercard Foundation hosted a panel titled...

Through the first Africa SME Finance Forum, IFC, financial institutions and entrepreneurs are seeking to find solutions to close the $331 billion SME finance gap across the continent. The conference on May 15-16 explores local and global best practice SME banking solutions to harness digital technology, e-commerce and blockchain, to promote youth...